Drax Rendolen
Drax Rendolen (19 BBY –) was born into nobility on the lush, peaceful planet of Alderaan. Though he was raised in the typical fashion of those in his social class, he did rebel and try to be normal. The life of a diplomat and land owner was not for him. Instead, his focus was on flying. Eventually, he enrolled himself in the Imperial Naval Academy at an early age. He graduated and moved on to active service. However, as soon as the news of his homeworld's fate had reached him, he began to come to his senses. Indeed, the man had been serving for those whom had killed so many and would continue to do so. A short while later, he went on shore leave and never returned. A considerable amount of time was spent in hiding and in search of a way to join the Rebellion. A new chapter had begun in Drax's life when he finally gathered the courage to join New Republic StarOps under his real name. Though many did not treat him the same as other cadets due to his former employment status, he did his best. Over several years he proved himself time and time again through exemplory service that, on many occasions, went above and beyond the call of duty. With his extensive naval training and his experienced background, the pilot managed to work his way up through the ranks until he had attained that of Brigadier General and was in charge of a significant fleet in the New Republic Navy. The Alderaanian's personal life had also begun to flourish in many ways. He had started a relationship with an Intelligence agent named Kyokusha. Throughout many hard times, they grew closer and were eventually married and had two children. Drax was also racing swoops for a good deal of time and did well enough to earn himself a spot on the GSL Executive Board and a position as Manager of the race track on Corellia. A trend which is common for the man is that when things seem their best, they tend to turn bad. His X-wing exploded mere meters off of the tarmac in Coronet City, Corellia when he was lifting off to return to the NR Fleet at Mon Calamari after recently taking the planet. Weeks were spent in bacta treatment and in the end, the only prosthetic limb that could be used to replace the one which was burned completely from his body is a model that is typically used in the industrial sector. A few months later, his ship was believed to have been destroyed while responding to an attack at Chandrila by a renegade ship. In reality, a missile was fired at his vessel, he was rammed by the ship, and then tractor'ed in. Over a month was spent in small holding cell with the only outside interaction being the droid that would come at the exact same time every day to deliver a meal. After this, he was delivered to the Imperials, who locked him away in Kessel for several months. The combined experience of this all has left it's mark on the man, changing his up-beat, can-do manner to something far from. Within the walls of this prison, he was tortured and locked in a solitary room in the dark. Months later, Salin Fawzy had Drax transferred off of Kessel and leaked the information of the shuttles route to Talon Karrde. The shuttle was ambushed and the former New Republic naval commander was rescued. A few weeks after this, Gavin Shai informed Drax that his wife had abandoned him and that he had been seeing her. This news brought out the worst in the Alderaanian, sending him into a mad frenzy where he nearly choked the man to death before throwing him into a nearby cake. The more time he had to brood over the subject, the worse the pilot seemed to get about self medicating. Be it alcohol or spice, he began to spiral out of control and spent the better part of the next few months trying to numb himself as best he could. The pilot began to seek out as many unsavory black ops missions that NRI would provide for him. When these no longer seemed to put him in harms way enough, he joined the New Republic Marine Corps and transferred into SpecOps, knowing full well that they had the highest casualty rate of any branch. Truth be told, he was almost hoping he could be one. The path to self-destruction was interrupted for a short while after running into Johanna Siri te Danaan, who promptly knocked some sense into him and locked him in a room for a week straight to force him to go cold turkey from the spice and booze. In the end, he couldn't fight alcoholism after she had moved on elsewhere. Drax began to become more active within the ranks of Talon Karrde's organization. It was through this work that he began to find his footing once more. A strong group of friends and some stern words from the boss helped to keep him on the right path. In the end, Drax ran into his greatest influence on Nar Shaddaa. It was a handshake from a rather dangerous woman that had opened his eyes. (It is a little known fact that Drax's initial impression of everyone came from the first handshake he had with that individual. A prime reason why he never trusted or enjoyed the company of Sarians, who typically do not shake hands.) The woman was Andreya Carvallo, better known as Drew. The two formed a rocky and volatile relationship that had some of the most extreme highs and lows known to man, ranging from simple practical jokes to actual fighting. Later on, Drew was captured by Draga the Hutt and while in captivity Drax began to notice that his hands were beginning to shake. Terribly frustrated at being unable to even fire a gun anymore or provide any sort of help, he disappeared to search for a treatment as quickly as he could. Months later, he returned as a Drax Rendolen Celebrity Impersonator at the celebration on the newly liberated Coruscant. His reunion with Drew was short-lived. Soon after, she was captured by the Imperials and taken to Selene. Desperate to free her from the Empire, Drax threw together a plan as quickly as possible. With the help of Mayre O'Hanrahan, Johanna, Kitterick Brandis Finian, and Sha'dria he set out to Selene. Shortly after arriving on the planet, Brandis had been discovered. Their presence on the planet was known and all hope seemed to be lost. However, the Alderaanian had one last chance to get the woman he had loved more than anything out of imprisonment; he would exchange himself for her. The deal to be made with Tyler Damion himself was to be that Drax, a decorated and celebrated New Republic war hero, openly declare his allegiance to the Empire and fight in the war against his own in exchange for Drew's freedom. The deal was accepted and shortly thereafter Drax's implant which had steadied his hands by filtering all stimulii to the brain was reprogrammed to turn him into a mindless minion. It was in this form that he was sent out to shoot down his own ship being flown by Drew. The last ace up his sleeve however was that he had asked Johanna to escort Drew to safety and as such, in an ironic turn of events, she protected her a bit too well, and clipped off one of the solar panels on his TIE fighter, sending him hurtling back to Selene. On his last voyage, he activated the fail-safe on the implant, but with only time enough to say a last good-bye to friends and loved ones. The TIE's radio cut out as the fighter entered the atmosphere and was surrounded by flames. It was a spectacular trip to the other side of Selene. Kessel is universally known as a horrific place to spend any amount of time, but the radioactive wasteland of Selene made it look like a lavish vacation in comparison. Drax was fortunate to be able to do a half-decent job of putting down his TIE Fighter, regaining some measure of control before the end. It wasn't pretty, but it was enough to survive until a survey team stumbled upon the wreck and rescued him. Being dressed in a full Imperial pilot's flightsuit aided his hiding his full identity as they made their way back to the main city, where he was able to find refuge. After considerable time, the former intelligence agent was finally able to find his way off of the planet, bribing, conning, and sneaking his way aboard a cargo vessel. The experience had changed him deeply, having made decisions on the planet he wasn't entirely happy with in the name of survival. His first step was to try and reconnect with Drew, but was unsuccessful. Finally, he returned to NRI, seeking out what had become a second home. After a difficult discussion where he is offered a chance for a far more comfortable job, Drax chooses to investigate a new religion which is spawning on Trandosha. Rendolen, Drax Rendolen, Drax Rendolen, Drax Rendolen, Drax Category:New Republic Pilots